The Trump administration on Jan. 3 announced two nominations for senior weapon buyers in the Pentagon and Air Force, one of which would relinquish the top spot at the shadowy Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO).
William Roper, the current and only director of the SCO, is tapped to become the Air Force chief weapon buyer. Founded in 2013, SCO was tasked with finding new ways to use existing weapons and cracking dire capability gaps with innovative approaches, most of which remain classified.
The office made some of its projects public during testimony by Roper before Congress in 2016. They include creating an anti-ship version of Raytheon’s [RTN] Standard Missile 6 and configuring the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to strike ships.
Before taking the helm at SCO, Roper served as the acting chief architect at the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
SCO’s future after Feb. 1 is uncertain. As of that date, the Pentagon’s acquisition apparatus will be split into two. A newly created undersecretary of defense for research and engineering (USD R&E) will oversee the creation of new capabilities while a USD for acquisition and sustainment (USD A&S) is responsible for transitioning new weapons and gear to the field, then managing the program life-cycle.
The restructuring will also change the role of assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, for which Kevin Fahey was tapped Dec. 3. Fahey is a former executive director of the systems of systems engineering and integration directorate for the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition. He also previously served as program executive officer for combat support and combat service support (PEO CS&CSS).
As ASD for acquisition, Fahey after Feb. 1 will report directly to the USD A&S along with the ASDs for sustainment and nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s current chief weapon buyer, is expected to take the USD A&S job while former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who currently serves as Lord’s principal deputy, likely will become the first USD R&E.
Following that schism, SCO will be subsumed by the office of the assistant secretary of defense for advanced capabilities, which reports directly to the USD R&E. The Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental (DIUx) will join SCO in that new portfolio. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will fall under the assistant defense secretary for research and technology, which also will report to USD R&E.
In a top-down effort to deliver cutting-edge technologies to the field faster, the Pentagon’s acquisition restructure calls for expansion of DARPA, DIUx and SCO approaches “as appropriate.” Their tasks include “repurposing or adapting fielded systems with new technology and innovation that change the calculus of warfighting; experimenting with new commercial technology, contracting and workforce authorities and acquisition methods to accelerate delivery of needed capability and coordinating with services and staffs [to] shorten the requirements stroke between the warfighter and systems deliverer,” according to the plan.